Indeed Reality
by Moonsetta
Summary: Sequel to 'Without A Brother' We've seen Mikey and Raph but what of our intelligent purple banded genius? How is this and another memory affecting him? What about Master Splinter? Is this truly reality? Second in the 'Lone Miracle' series.


I wrote 'Without A Brother' and well it kind of lead to this.

I don't own TMNT.

* * *

Donny retightened the screws on the remote control but questioned why he was doing such a thing. No one had turned on the TV for the past year. He'd be surprised if the old television still even worked. The sound of sobs and pounding footsteps only distracted him for a second before he dove back into his work. He put down the screwdriver and walked back into the living room to put the remote back on the couch. After a quick listen for the sound of silence he sighed and followed the vibrations of angry cries to the bedroom of his little brother.

He knocked quietly on the door, "Mikey?"

He heard a muffled, "Hmm?" from inside and opened the door.

"Mikey," Donny said, looking on the form of the soul that used to be the energy that held their family in high spirits.

Without that, the lair had grown dark. There were no smiles and no jokes in the air and the walls even crumbled as if they were bones long lost of calcium.

"I made Raph mad didn't I?" Mikey mumbled in a scratchy voice that was long sore from tears and sobs.

Donny sighed, "You had the nightmare again?"

Mikey nodded.

Donny sighed and leaned against the door frame, "Mikey, you need to shake this nightmare it's not healthy."

"I know," Mikey mumbled before burying his face in his pillow.

Donny closed his eyes and walked out of the room. He went into the bathroom and locked the door. He glanced in the mirror and he saw that he looked as normal as ever, ok well he was a bit pale but the others wouldn't be freaking. At least, as long as he wore his mask. He reached up and untied it, letting it fall into the sink. He glanced up again and the only term that came to his mind was, 'zombie'.

He would surely look the part. His yellowish olive green skin matched perfectly with the skin of one so undead and if any more bags appeared under his eyes he was sure they would fall right out of his skull. Then he would look as empty as he surely felt. He set his mask to the side and ran the faucet before splashing water onto his face. As if somehow he could wash reality itself away. He hypothesized such a thing could be possible, to isolate a multi-cellular organism from every physical faction surrounding it.

He scoffed and reached for a towel beside the sink to dry his face but he knew he would do the same thing in another hour. It had become habit, he washed away the blood that first night. For everyone else the nightmare started on Friday but his had personally started exactly 18 hours 45 minutes and 13 seconds before. It was stupid really, Raph fought with Leo and Mikey but rarely was there any other combination of harsh words thrown around carelessly. Donny buried his face in hands as the memory hit him like a wrecking ball, his heart the target to be demolished.

A simple, normal gang battle for the turtles. Donny had scanned the area and taken out all the roaming variables or the men off to the sides with guns. They regrouped and everyone was feeling confident maybe too overconfident. Everyone but Leo that is.

"_Don't celebrate too soon guys," Leo said while glancing around, "We still have to find our way out of here."_

"_Mikey had to blow up that plane," Raph said with a slight growl._

"_I got us in didn't I?!" Mikey shouted._

"_Face it, we're in trouble if we can't find a way out of here. This is what we get for not having a plan," Donny said with a side glance at Leo._

"_I don't see you coming up with a plan," Leo said with a grimace._

"_Me!? You're supposed to be the leader!"_

"_And we're supposed to be a team. How could I lead if you guys are at each other's throats?"_

"_Maybe what we need is a new leader," Raph said turning his attention away from Mikey._

"_You want to explain that remark?" Leo said._

"_No let's just have at it right now!" Raph said taking out his sais as Leo unsheathed one of his swords._

_They glared until Leo's gaze faltered and fell to his sword. To everyone's shock, he simply let it fall to the floor._

"_You're not worth fighting," Leo said as he stepped away from them._

_Just then Foot soldiers jumped from the shadows and tackled Leo from behind._

"_Leo hold on!" Raph called out as he jumped towards them._

_Then the three younger turtles were pulled back with heavy chains. They all looked back to see the Elite standing behind them._

"_Foolish mutants," the leader said._

_A few feet away Leo was unable to fight the mass of chains that were wrapped around him. Then to his horror the Elite stepped aside, still holding the chains as the shadows darted away from a form entering the room._

"_Stockman," Raph growled._

"_Ah, so good to see that this will be your downfall you vile reptilian freaks," he said as the Elite and the Foot soldiers hooked the chains to the walls._

_The soldiers and Elite vanished in clouds of smoke while Stockman took a small disc from his pocket._

"_Working for the Shredder again Stockman?" Leo asked, trying to get one of his arms free from the chains._

"_Yes, he is paying quite handsomely for many ideas I've developed in the past few months," Stockman said as he tossed the disc into the middle of the room where it vibrated for a few seconds._

"_In 15 seconds that bomb will send you all sky high, goodbye you miscreants," Stockman sneered as he left the room._

_Raph desperately grabbed for his sais but couldn't move. Donny had dropped his bo staff when they had been trapped and Mikey couldn't reach his nunchucks. Leo narrowed his eyes as the large digitized numbers on the bomb counted down. He pulled at the chains and stretched out, reaching for the discarded sword just an inch from his fingertips. _

_(00:10)_

_He pulled at the chains and was rewarded with the creak of metal. He dove for the sword and sent it flying through the air, across the room and successfully cutting the chains from his brothers._

_They untangled the chains from around themselves and turned to Leo._

_(00:01)_

"_Run!" he yelled._

_Just as his voice rang out Raph backed up and pushed his little brothers out the door. He was going to run right back in for Leo but the force of the bomb knocked him back. When the younger turtles looked back up there was nothing but fire and ashes._

Donny splashed his face with water again, "We're supposed to be a team," he muttered before splashing his face yet again.

"Some team member I was," he mumbled remembering that day.

They had dug Leo out to find that by the miracle of a miracle he was still alive. They rushed back home and Donny did everything he could. When Leo woke up the next day Raph went right to him and apologized for the whole, 'new leader' remark. Mikey was all over his eldest brother with hugs and sweets until he was well. Of course Donny found himself too cowardly to say anything to Leo. He shut himself in his lab and headed strait for the notes on Leo's condition.

The bomb as well as the debris had done their work. Many sharp pieces of hot medal had gotten embedded into Leo's shell along with some wood. A single thick sliver of wood had come within an actual hair's thickness length of going through Leo's spine. Donny never reminded his brothers that his bo staff had been the only wood in that room.

Donny shivered at the thought and splashed water over his face, neck and shoulders. His own weapon could've cut his eldest brother's spine. Maybe it wouldn't have killed him but if it had simply touched that one nerve it would've paralyzed Leo from the neck down. Leo would've never been able to walk again and never again would he have been able to fight, never hold his katana.

Donny retied his mask and exited the bathroom just as Raph reentered the lair. Their eyes met and Raph glanced away. Raph quickly disappeared into his room and Donny shut himself away in his lab. He took a deep breath and walked over to his computer. He checked the security cameras he had all over the sewers. All except for one. He had terminated it's internal functions via remote control. Donny knew exactly when Raph had arrived there and seen the mutilated corpse.

His constant thoughts were those last words.

"_We're supposed to be a team."_

What's the team or the family without Leo?

* * *

Donny forced himself to enter the room one last time. He wouldn't stay for long, just enough to maybe…just a second to remember. The room seemed the same as always but Donny fell to his knees as the door closed behind him.

"Oh come on," he said in his head, "What was I expecting? To walk in here to see him meditating?"

Donny forced his eyes open and gazed on the beds on the far side of the room. It was furniture they had found at an old junkyard. It had a full bed on top and a futon on the bottom. It just seemed perfect for them. Mikey and Raph were then free to have their own rooms that way and neither he nor Leo had to put up with Raph's snoring or Mikey's sleep talk. Donny could still remember the evenings of nightmares. Even though he was 15 he still had fears. After Leo had two brushes with death Donny drove himself into medical studies wanting to be there for him if he could and be able to stop pain.

He hated feeling helpless, they all did but he was the smart one. He should always know how to fix things, even his brothers. Those nights Leo was in critical condition he never slept. He always had to wake Leo up every few hours for tests. Donny could always see the irritation in Leo's eyes but Leo never complained. Perhaps he saw Donny's need to be able to fix things. Those brushes of death had Donny shivering at nighttime. He was constantly thinking of what would happen if Leo didn't make it.

Now those nightmares were indeed reality.

Donny staggered out the room and took ten deep breaths. He wouldn't sleep in there ever again.

"Leo…" he cried, glad that the others were asleep.

On his way to his lab he glanced to the room that once belonged to his sensei. That was why, the entire reason. Luckily, their loving father had gone in his sleep. Leo had been taking care of them and they turned a blind eye when he didn't eat or sleep. The night Splinter died they all found their way into Leo's bed, letting their big brother support them while they grieved. They finally noticed the problem when Leo collapsed in the middle of a battle.

He had been getting better. He began eating and sleeping better. Then came the day and those words.

They rang in Donny's head once again, _"We're supposed to be a team."_

Donny looked back to the room of his now only older brother and glared. If Raph hadn't said what he had. If they hadn't fought then Leo would still be there. Donny slipped into his lab and slammed the door behind him. He gazed at what he had managed to recover of his bo staff and gazed forlornly at the pointed edge. It was still smeared in blood. Leo's blood.

Donny quickly crossed the room and snatched it up.

"Retribution," he whispered and clung tightly to his new weapon before turning to his lab door and stepping out, his eyes on one room, his thoughts on ending the life of a monster.

* * *

Yeah, I always wondered what it would be like if Donny went mental.

No real comment on this story.

Anyone interested in a third part that ends happily? You know, Leo alive and Raph not trying to kill me?

~Moonsetta


End file.
